The Public Participation Convention and Export Credit Agencies

The document examines the three pillars of the Public Participation Convention—access to information, access to decision-making, and access to justice—and argues that export credit agencies, as government agencies, should be subject to these transparency and accountability requirements. It notes that while the Convention is not yet in force, signatories are obligated not to act contrary to its purpose. The paper also discusses the Convention's limited direct application to multilateral development banks and its weak compliance review mechanisms.

• The Public Participation Convention is structured around three pillars: access to environmental information, the right of the public to participate in environmental decision-making, and access to an independent review process to allege rights infringements.
• The Convention establishes a presumption in favor of disclosing environmental information, allowing public authorities to deny requests only on specific, narrowly interpreted grounds. Some grounds, such as those protecting commercial confidentiality, are qualified and must be "protected by law in order to protect a legitimate economic interest".
• Procedural requirements for public participation vary by decision type; Article 6 mandates the most comprehensive requirements for activities likely to significantly affect the environment, such as the construction of a power plant. All decision-making processes require that public authorities take participation into account in the final decision.
• The Convention provides a right to challenge denials of information and the legality of decisions on specific activities, with liberal standing criteria for the public and NGOs. However, the ability to challenge violations of general national environmental law is more limited and subject to potentially restrictive national standing requirements.
• Export credit agencies (ECAs) should be subject to the Convention's provisions because they are government agencies and their activities, particularly financing, insuring, or guaranteeing projects listed in Annex I, impact the environment.
• The Convention does not apply directly to international institutions like multilateral development banks (MDBs), but it requires Parties to promote the Convention's principles within international environmental decision-making processes and international organizations.
• As of March 15, 1999, the Convention had 40 signatories but had not yet entered into force, as it requires ratification by 16 countries. The United States and Canada were notably absent from the list of signatories.
• The Convention's mechanism for reviewing compliance is described as extremely weak because any compliance arrangements must be established on a consensus basis and remain optional.

APA

Saladin, C. (n.d.). The Public Participation Convention and Export Credit Agencies. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ppceca.pdf

Chicago

Saladin, Claudia. The Public Participation Convention and Export Credit Agencies. Center for International Environmental Law, n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ppceca.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Saladin |first1=Claudia |title=The Public Participation Convention and Export Credit Agencies |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ppceca.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{saladinndpublic, author = {Saladin, Claudia}, title = {{The Public Participation Convention and Export Credit Agencies}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ppceca.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }